Firefox & Thunderbird Addons

You can find hundreds of free Firefox addons for download at https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/. You can add any of these add-ons to your Firefox browser to make your browsing experience better, faster, safer or just more fun. Normally all you have to do is click on the download link (In Thunderbird you must "save" the addon .xpi file and drag it into the addon windows to install it manually.)

After years of using Firefox and Thunderbird, I advise people to use only addons they can't live without. This minimizes problems of poorly written code or incompatibilty with other addons.

My Firefox Addons 2012

Adblock Plus
Blocks 3rd party ads on many pages.

Adblock Plus Pop-up Addon
Goes with Adblock Plus to block popup ads.

All-in-One Gestures
Although it hasn't been updated in some time.

BetterPrivacy
List and manage LSO's (Flash cookies). Can delete then on exit for greater security.

Compact Menu 2
Replaces your Menu (File..Help) with a single icon to save space.

Cookie Monster
Controls creation and saving of cookies for added security.

Cutiefox URL shortener
Click the icon and the URL of the current page is shortened and put into the clipboard for pasting into twitter posts.

Easy YouTube Video Downloader
Easily download videos from Youtube.com in MP4 format (and others). Conversion to audio MP3 format requires an upgrade.

FEBE
Backup all your addons. Easily restore one or all from your previous backups.

FireFTP
Publish website files right from a Firefox tab. Icon button makes it even easier.

IE Tab 2 (FF 3.6+)
Toggle a web page from the Firefox to the Internet Explorer engine right in a Firefox tab. (IE must be installed. You are now vulnerable to IE security issues.)

LastPass
Secure and simply to use password manager. Remember only one password - it fills in (most of) the rest. Access, organize and edit your passwords in a web page.

NoScript
Blocks scripts on websites from running unless you allow them to run.

QuickDrag
Right-click and drag a link to open it in a new tab.

SmoothWheel (mozdev.org)
The mouse wheel works as it should in ALL programs! What more can I say? Can't live without this addon.

Tab Mix Plus
Dozens of settings for opening tabs from various types of links.

Toolbar Buttons
Dozens of icons for putting useful functions on your toolbar. (

Vacuum Places Improved
Scheduled compression of Firefox dababases to make it run faster. Not needed if you run Ccleaner to compact Firefox databases.

Download Firefox Addons from Mozilla.org

Firefox Colours

Firefox, Mozilla's terrific web browser, has many extensions and options, but only allows you to choose your default background from the about 70 colours (they may improve this in future versions). To change the default background to any RGB colour code, you may make a direct change to the Firefox configuration.

Be careful with 'config' changes. Backup your Firefox profile folder first!

If "Content" colors in the Options menu doesn't provide you with the background color you want, type about:config in the location bar.
In the Filter box, type "browser.display.background_color".
Right click on it and select Modify (or double click).
You will see a RGB color such as #C0C0C0 (gray). Type a RGB color i.e. #FFFCDD (light beige). Click OK. The new default background takes effect immediately.

browser.display.use_document_colors is probably set to true but you can change it to false if you have vision problems and prefer your own colours.

Mozilla tips from for Firefox: Firefox Tips & Tricks

Colour Codes in HTML

My Thunderbird Addons

Archive This
Type a CTRL+key combination to move selected emails to a subdirectory based on your rules (based on To, From, Subject, ..). If no rule applies, simply create a new one.

AttachmentExtractor
Right-click any message and extract attachments to a previously defined folder.

Canadian English Dictionary
If you use spell-checking, it uses Canadian rather than American spellings.

checkCompatibility
Allows you use "Toolbar Buttons" even though it is not updated - very useful.

Compact Menu 2
Turn the entire menu into one drop-down icon (see Toolbar Buttons)

Empty Deleted Folder Button Thunderbird
A toolbar button to delete the Trash folder

Get Selected Mails
Time saver if you have many mail, news, and news feed accounts.

Lightning
A calendar that syncronize events (with optional alarms) with the web-based Google Calendar and a Google Calendar app on your phone. How can you live without this?!

Mouse Gestures Redox
Customize right-drag mouse gestures to do dozens of useful functions. How about right-drag up+down to open your start page, drag left-right to close a tab, drag right+up to reply? (No longer maintained. Try: All-in-One Gestures, Firegestures)

Quicktext
Create custom messages under different subjects and select them from a menubar. Big time saver for business mail.

SmoothWheel (mozdev.org)
The mouse wheel works as it should in ALL programs, not just Thunderbird/Firefox! What more can I say? Can't live without this addon.

ThunderBrowse
Opens links in a new tab. No need to open the browser.

Toggle Headers
Toggle viewing the entire mail header by typing "h". Much faster than clicking View > Headers > All. A button should have been created for this.

Toolbar Buttons
Lots of buttons to add to your toolbar for many useful functions.

Folderpane Tools
I leave it disabled until I need to rearrange my accounts in the left pane.

Download Thunderbird addons from Mozilla.org.